Can I Substitute Chocolate Bars for Cocoa When Baking?

Faith Durand
Faith DurandSVP of Content
Faith is the SVP of Content at Apartment Therapy Media and former Editor-in-Chief of The Kitchn. She is the author of three cookbooks, including the James Beard Award-winning The Kitchn Cookbook. She lives in Columbus, Ohio, with her husband and two daughters.
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published Jun 23, 2010
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Q:  I recently ran out of my favorite dark chocolate cocoa powder. Can I substitute a dark chocolate bar in place of the cocoa powder? If so, are 8 ounces of chocolate bar equivalent to 1 cup of cocoa powder?

Cocoa powder always seems to be more expensive than chocolate bars, so subbing the chocolate bars could be cost effective too.

Sent by Sarah

Editor: Sarah, we presume you are asking about baked good recipes here. (It’s quite easy to make hot chocolate or other drinks with chocolate instead of cocoa!) We consulted Joy of Baking (a great web resource for this sort of thing) and it says that you can indeed substitute chocolate for cocoa powder. You do need to add a bit of baking soda, too, and also compensate by slightly reducing the other fats in the recipe.

• See the proportions here: Chocolate for Cocoa Substitution at Joy of Baking

Readers, any advice on this? Have you ever substituted chocolate for cocoa?

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Related: Pantry Basics: What Is Dutch Process Cocoa?

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Emma Christensen

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Baking
Chocolate
Cooking Methods
Ingredient